Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Day 5 on the road to Prague

Day 5
A visit to Dachau and onto Prague.
We started our morning fairly early and left Munich. Our first stop was the Concentration Camp of Dachau. It is, to say, sobering. The GDYO kids were extremely attentive to the guides and in all I think they learned a few new things about an important piece of history.
From there we headed to Prague. We stopped at a bus stop for lunch and I must say they food was not bad.
At the border of the Czech Republic we had to stop so that the driver could pay fees and get papers checked. We were told we might have to show passports, but we did not. Crossing the border there was a definite change in buildings. We stopped at a rest stop and the bathrooms were, to say, interesting. For those of you who don't know, most, if not all, public restroom require a fee to use. Usually around .50
The drive to the city was pleasant. Mostly countryside with a few buildings here and there. Because it is no longer required to stop at the boarder and beyond, many of the businesses have shut down.
Once we entered the city, it was building after building of apartments. It was not what we imagined Prague to look like. Tall, long buildings that are the homes of the 1.5 million people that live here. Most cannot afford homes and this is what the Russians built for the people to live in and they continue to stay there, most have no choice.
It took us a while to get to the hotel as there was no direct way. Twist and turns, u-turns and criss-crossing, I was lost by the time we got to the hotel.
The hotel is okay. It's clean, there are several restaurants and some beautiful outdoor areas. But it is full of groups (youth groups) from all over the world. The kids are loving it, but trying to sleep is not easy. It is an older hotel and still has features from the communists days.
Dinner was starch, starch and more starch - we had a choice of four meats, four different versions of potatoes and pasta. There was also a mushroom soup, which was pretty good and a small salad bar. There was a lot of white on the plates of kids.
We stayed at the hotel that evening as it was late by the time we finished dinner. The kids wandered around and like all good GDYO members, they entertained the tourists in the lobby with an impromptu performance. Several kids played games and most found the free computers and got on Facebook.